These days there’s not much left on the shelves at Clough’s Hardware and Gifts in Stratford.
It’s not such a big deal since longtime customers were mostly there to say goodbye on Wednesday.
“Pretty amazing people. I’m going to miss them,” Greg Kostopoulos said.
Clough’s opened on Main Street in 1933 and the family-run business passed through three generations and Ron Clough Jr. runs it now.
“I have customers that come in now that I helped their grandfather fix something. You helped their fathers and mothers pick out paint,” Clough said.
It’s a place where Kostopoulos remembers picking up his first wrench set when he was a child. Now his usual weekly stops here will soon end.
“My philosophy is to support the community and whenever I can stay in this community and purchase what I need that doesn’t involve big box I’ll do it,” Kostopoulos said.
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Clough’s survived more than eight decades and even the arrival of big box stores.
In the end, a place prided on tradition could not keep up with modern trends.
“The internet has hurt us and the fact that a lot of people don’t have the skills that they used to have. It’s buy a new one or hiring someone to fix it more,” Clough said.
Clough’s was unique, not for what it sold, but what it provided: a link to the past and helped bond together the community.
“Now it’s an end to it and now it’s going be a change. It’s hard to get used to the idea of it,” Clough said.
The store will close its doors for good on Friday around 3 p.m.
They hope to be able to rent out the spot and have already had some interest.
